Usually credited as just Nilsson, he was an American singer- songwriter who achieved the peak of his success in the early 70's.

His work is characterized by pioneering overdub experiments, returns to "The Great American Songbook" and fusions of Caribbean sounds.

Nilsson is one of the very few pop-rock recording artists of his era to achieve great commercial success without ever performing major public concerts or undertaking tours.

In 2015 he was voted #62 in Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time".